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Tuesday, August 27, 2013

It would be quite a huge risk to take both of the genres
of the Canterbury scene and the Jazz Rock sound of the ‘70s to give it a
heavier beat. But when you have an Indonesian band like I Know You Well Miss
Clara, who has been around since 2009, you can expect the unexpected. The band came around from the Indonesia
Institute of the Arts in Yogyakarta which is a college university helping
students to teach them about visual aid, performance, and the media arts to
show the styles of international music and the sounds of Jazz Rock fits the
band perfectly.

The band considers Reza Ryan on Guitar, Adi Wijaya on
Keyboards, Enriko Gultom on Bass, and Alfiah Akbar on Drums. Their debut album,
Chapter One, released this year from
Moonjune Records, is very much a laid-back, groovy, trip to memory lane, and a
fantastic instrumental album that is a magical experience. Hypnotic guitar
lines, Flourishing Organ turned Rhodes-like sounds on the keyboards, and
impressive drum work laying down the beats and tempos. It’s really quite a
journey to go on while seeing where the quartet would take different areas of
the sound. Not to mention it was recorded in 18 hours from start to finish and picking the right takes and
the right notes and where they would go with it.

The opening 10-minute suite, Open The Door, See the Ground, begins with a minor melodic chord
progression done by Wijaya as he sets the tone on what is to come. At first, it’s
a tribute to Gentle Giant’s introduction line on Pantagruel’s Nativity, before
Akbar and Gultom create this disturbing walking line as Reza comes in full
swing with this guitar work as he comes in at the exact moment by doing his
mind-boggling work on the instrument as he goes in the style of John
McLaughlin, Robert Fripp, and Allan Holdsworth.

And then it becomes frenzy for the last 3-minutes as they
go through a spaced out attack as if it was recorded for the sessions for Pawn
Hearts before Wijaya closes the piece with a dramatic turned sinister finale on
the piano. Conversation and Pop Sick Love Carousel are more of a Canterbury ‘s take of Steely
Dan’s Aja-era as Wijaya creates some Thelonious Monk-like beats on the Rhodes
as Reza comes up with a bluesy-soul beat on the solo while the gloomy yet
ambient aspects on Reverie #2 is at
first a free-for-all as keyboards and funk-bass wah-wah collide and the
drumming goes into a Bruford-like beat and guitar just goes into haywire mode
that is like an alarm siren going off as it goes into a panic mode! Intensity
gets the better of the music.

Love Letter from
Canada is back into the ambient surroundings. The Rhodes, Minor Guitar
Chords, and coolness on the drums, makes it almost a touch of Tangerine Dream’s
Phaedra-era that has this emotional and balladry surroundings to the love of
the town, the state, and the Maple Leaf. Dangerous
Kitchen is a wooshing psych chord progressions as Reza Ryan comes into town
with these wonderful minor sounds on his guitar as the band come into a Bebop
movement and it’s in the style of King Crimson’s Island-era and the Soft
Machine’s Third-era as they are combined into one.

The closer, A
Dancing Girl from the Planet Marsavishnu Named After the Love, is a homage to
the great Jazz Rock band of the ‘70s, The Mahavishnu Orchestra. It begins with various movements from their work
and it’s quite a wonderful tribute to McLaughlin, Laird, Cobham, Hammer, and
Goodman. The band shows their true love and passion of this music and how they
were heavily inspired of the Mahavishnu’s music.

If Matching Mole, D.F.A, Hatfield and the North, and the
Soft Machine had a younger nephew, it would be I Know You Well Miss Clara, and
Moonjune have done a fabulous job signing this band to their label. There is
always some good feelings when it comes to the label. Whether its Marbin,
Mahogany Frog, The Wrong Object, and Machine Mass Trio, you know something
wonderful is about to happen. Chapter One
is a blessing and it’s a must have album for any Jazz or Prog fan to understand
the meaning of the combination of the two.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Active Heed came from the mind of Umberto Pagnini who
wanted to take music to a different level and reach for the voyage that is
about to come. When you think of the word for a band name like that, you think
of spiritual adventures and a journey that the listener is about to embark on
that is melodic, beautiful, powerful, and will take you into different
universes you haven’t seen before. The band’s debut album, Visions from Realities, is a laid-back, folky, symphonic, and
progressive-pop like no other and it’s a one of the most touching albums that I’ve
enjoyed.

Pagnini, who wrote the music and lyrics behind the album,
brought in some special collaborations to be a part of his project that
features Lorenzo “il Magnifico” Poli on Bass and Keyboards, PelleK on lead
vocals, and Giovanni Giorgi on drums along with additional vocals from Mark
Colton and Marit Borresen while the mixing and mastering is Alberto “Einstein”
Callegari. Now I have listened to Visions
from Realities about five times already and it is something special that
Pagnini brought into and the influences I hear, rage from: Genesis, The
Strawbs, Marillion, and Yes.

There are 15 tracks on the album and there’s no epic
20-minute piece on here, however this is something special as each of the
compositions has a narrative and story-complex songs in there as they flow with
wonderful results and track by track, it is a staggering, yet captivated
inspirational adventure. And through each composition, there is hope and
uplifting moments that endures seven centerpieces on their debut work.

Segues between Now
What? / Me, Five Seconds Before Which features this ‘70s organ-driven
orchestral roar along with a psychedelic guitar line resembling Cressida’s sole
self-titled debut album turned into a catchy yet jumpy rhythm section as PelleK
sings his heart out as the band creates some magic here. The Celtic Renaissance
Folk Ambient boundaries come in full swing on Melting of Realities. It features pumping percussions, Floyd-like
acoustic guitar strumming, atmospheric keyboards, and layers of electricity on
the chord section that is very lively.

Flashing Fast
Forward, has this ‘60s psych swirling keyboard work and crisp guitar work
and its closer to a Space Oddity-era of Bowie meets Yes’ Time and a Word period
that is at times alternative prog that has some very interesting beats and
groovy sounds while the tender Forest and
Joy, goes into a Jazzy Folk Rock ballad and throwing in some classical
guitar lines. Then, everything becomes almost like a mini-Rock Opera.

Every Ten Seconds
Before, has this ¾ time signature of a Prog Waltz that is very dance-like
before going back into the 4/4 signature and a knockout. A roaring surroundings
of electric/acoustic guitars and organ to help out the tempo before it’s a fast-driven
finale to make it to the finish line as the time signatures, while it’s
different, can go through soft into a head banging melodic charm. Me, One Second Before Johan Robeck, in
which the track is named after a philosopher, who wrote this essay on allowing
Suicide to come from a theological point of view, has a sinister and darker
view on the subject.

It starts out soft and gentle, before it goes into a hard
rocking edge as it stops all of a sudden and transforms into an Avant-Rock mass
madness after PelleK shouts “Give Me a Break!” It turns into orchestral buzzing
noises a-la Zappa meets Van Der Graaf Generator style that is very Spaghetti
Western-like noise before the calm after the storm of the Folky-Prog balladry
comes in to let the listener know that everything is okay.

Pagnini has done one hell of a job unleashing the music
and lyrics along with the vision he has in his head and stays in true form of
the Progressive Rock genre. I have listened to Visions from Realities seven times already and let me just say, it delivers
the greatest power and the vibrating glory.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

It is
very clear that Fusion Guitarist, Dave Martone and Glen Drover of Megadeth are hypnotic and
completely mind-blowing when it comes to having a grand old time and enjoying
yourselves to perform in front of an audience who are completely are
experiencing an amazing adventure, they have ever dreamed of. Both guitarists
have brought the ingredients of Progressive Metal, Thrash, Jazz Fusion, Virtuoso,
and Humor thrown into the Grocery bags to see which direction they would flow
into and the label, Magna Carta has unleashed something special and
electrifying.

The performance was recorded on September 25, 2011 at
Mississauga, Ontario for the Metalworks series which they did online in limited
locations for a worldwide webcast that was watched around the world in 63
countries and viewed by over 25,000 people which is mind-blowing. And the
performance has been finally unleashed on CD and DVD. Watching this performance, you get the
feel that you are right in the audience, completely jaw dropped, get into the
groove, and dare I say head banging to some parts of the pieces of the music
that Martone and Drover bring onto the stage.

There are two acts in the performance. The first act is Dave
Martone himself as he comes onstage as if the Olympic Torch of Guitar Virtuoso
has been given to him to light the events off with a bang from the roaring
applause from the crowd as he kicks the show off with The Goodie Squiggee Song. It
has this Jazz Rock style but with a swinging metallic twist as Martone is going
into town in the style of Steve Vai as if he had recorded this piece back in
the days of the late ‘30s to get the floors going to jump and jive.

Elsewhere, Angel Fish
has this wonderful homage to Elton John’s Funeral For a Friend as if it was
left off the sessions for Goodbye Yellow Brick Road while on Got Da Blues, Martone gives the band a
chance to share their moments of shining glory. He goes into this wonderful style of George
Benson meets Ottmar Liebert meets Django Reinhardt and going into the mind of
John McLaughlin for a laid-back beat that is at times, middle-eastern and
Brazilian atmosphere.

David Spidel goes this tribute to Jaco Pastorious and Flea
on his bass by coming up with some of the most Fusion-like licks and not to
mention slapping and popping the strings to get into the Funky groove as
drummer Gary Grace goes into this style sounds of Ginger Baker, Billy Cobham
and Bill Bruford on the drums to get the flow going as audiences go bonkers for
the two members as if it a jet engine had zoom very loud in a quick second to
get the flow going.

His take on the Charlie Daniels Band’s The Devil Went Down to Georgia with different lyrics instead of
violin, it’s a guitar competition between Johnny and the Devil himself. There’s
bits of Power Metal flowing in there as Dave growls the song before doing a
little bit of In the Hall of the Mountain King-sque line in the guitar that
sends shivers down the listener’s and crowd’s spine along with the cool vibe on
the atmospheric Dinky Pinky.

He closes the first set off with Glen Drover as a guest as
they kick into full energetic gear with a thunderous take of Joe Satriani’s Crush of Love. On this piece, they know their true love of
the guitar heroes they grew up with. And the vibrations are frenetic between
both Martone and Drover as they come up with overwhelming results.

The second act is Glen Drover’s turn to shine. In Glen’s
group, there’s Jim Gilmour on Keyboards, Paul Yee on Bass, and Chris Sutherland
on Drums. It’s more of a Progressive and Symphonic music mixed in with the
Fusion and the Metal genre to the core as he pays tribute to Frank Zappa and
Jean-Luc Ponty (which is on the DVD).

The spacey voyages on Don’t
Let The World Pass You By starting with Gilmour’s ambient keyboard
surroundings along with Yee’s smooth bass lines, Drover comes in with some
storming licks that resembles Alex Lifeson and a wonderful homage at times to
La Villa Strangiato while Gilmour goes into some swirling moog-like
surroundings that is off the wall. Opener, Frozen Dreams,
which starts the show off, begins with Jim doing homages to Keith Emerson and
Jordan Rudess as Drover creates this soaring riff before they go into
Prog-Metal town with various difficult time changes and uplifting tempos to get
the room going. Illusions of Starlight and
Colors of Infinity are both a
laid-back voyage turned into a Galactic adventure while the segue between the
quirky yet thumping take of Zappa’s Filthy
Habits and the emotional yet spiritual beauty of Ascension, shows the textures and electrical powers of Glen
Drover’s guitar work.

The closing yet entranced track, Ground Zero and the encore featuring Dave Martone to help out as
Glen sings one of Megadeth’s thrashier yet futuristic take on Symphony of Destruction, makes it a
perfect closing way to drop the curtain with a lot of heavy climatic boundaries
to get the explosions ready to hit at the right time at the exact right moment.
The DVD also features jubilant bonus tracks that Drover and Martone did along with rehearsal footage, photos, and compositions and a Jean-Luc Ponty cover that almost could
have been an extended version of the live set.

Both Dave Martone and Glen Drover are quintessential and the
performance at Metalworks is absolutely a shining yet thrilling experience that
is unleashed. Importance and a lot of hard work have been done to come upon
here and they have done one hell of a job from beginning, middle, and end.

Monday, August 12, 2013

White Willow could have easily been formed around at the
beginning of 1971. However, they were formed in 1993 in their hometown in
Norway and their debut album, Ignis
Fatuus in 1995. Originally released on The Laser’s Edge label and reissued
by Termo Records, it has this beautifully digipak format featuring this
leave-like background and it’s a 2-CD set along with an amazing liner notes
done by Sid Smith and an interview with Jacob Holm-Puto about the making of the
their first album.

Norway at that time period in the ‘90s was a Black Metal
scene and there wasn’t a Prog movement. But when White Willow went into the
studio, they knew it was time to give the Prog genre a huge revival and a
wake-up call. They combined the sounds of early Genesis, Mellow Candle, Comus,
King Crimson, Sandy Denny, and the late great Nick Drake. And man, can they
really take it up a notch thanks to the gentle gothic acid folk turned
symphonic rock opener, Snowfall
featuring harmonizing vocals of Sara Trondal and Eldrid Johansen doing this
duet that you can feel the goose bumps on the introduction.

Then, it’s the homage to Tudor Lodge and Trees’ The Garden
of Jane Delawney-era on Lord of Night and
the uplifting Now In These Fairylands
features some classical boundaries. With a combination of; string quartets,
harpsichord, lukewarm fingerpicking acoustic guitar structures, and a moog to
fill in the void and not to mention a fuzzy organ solo as an homage to Mike
Ratledge and Dave Stewart of the Soft Machine and Egg done by Jan Tariq Rahman
to get that Canterbury feel as well.

Elsewhere, the Celtic Opera comes in handy with the
Renaissance atmosphere on Song while Piletreet goes back into the acid folk
movement featuring bass, acoustic guitar, mellotron flutes and female
vocalization that resembles Annie Haslam that is a calming advantage along with
the layered structures of Ingenting and
Till He Arrives that has some jazzy
elements flown in there. Meanwhile, everything becomes a haunting soundtrack.

The 11-minute epic, Cryptomenysis,
starts off with a doomy organ sound in the styles of Black Widow meets Arzachel
and featuring spooky vocalization done by Sara as the band follows her voice to
see which direction she goes into. It becomes a laid-back groove featuring the
violin before getting back into the heavy rocking mode as if Black Sabbath, Van
Der Graaf Generator and Darryl Way teamed up to create a nightmarish terror
that is unexpected.

Signs is back into
calm after the storm while Lines On An
Autumnal Evening is a somber yet stirring classical folk featuring
recorder, flutes, strings, and guitar that makes it feel as if they had
recorded this piece inside a tiny little cottage having cups of tea and
creating magic in their sound. The
Withering of the Boughs, which sounds like an episode of Dark Shadows, at
first it has this moody atmosphere before they pay tribute to the Italian Prog
sounds of Premiata Forneria Marconi’s debut album with a bang at the very end.

The closer, John Dee’s
Lament, is one of most mind-boggling yet beautiful epics that is an
experience you will never forget. Beginning with a piano phrase and featuring
melodic vocals before it segues into a harder and edgier hypnotic hard folk
rock attitude featuring a thumping bass line, staggering guitar chords, violin
beauty, and the drums coming in setting the tension. It reminded me of Curved
Air and King Crimson’s Red-era, with an attitude.

The bonus tracks on the second disc feature demos (Grankvad, Snowfall, Till He Arrives), two
outtakes of unreleased material (I In The Eye and Det
Omvendte Bæger), a cover of King Crimson's Moonchild, and a rare live performance in Los Angeles at the Variety Arts Theatre at the time they were promoting the album and you could feel that you are in the audience in awe, tears, and blown away from a band that is soon going to receive word of mouth and attention in the Prog and Independent circuit.

Hats off to Ken Golden who started The Laser’s Edge since
1987, helping the band to get recognition in the Prog community and get the
word out. I have listened to the reissue of Ignis
Fatuus about seven times already and I’m completely hooked of what White
Willow had brought into the table with the grocery bags of their music
inspiration. An amazing re-release done by the people at Termo Records and if
you love the Acid Folk and Obscure side of Progressive Rock, then White Willow
is here to serve you.

And if you want proof, just ask Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth
and Lee Dorrian of Cathedral/Napalm Death.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Now, when it comes to Doom, Gothic, and Death Metal that
is rolled up into one, you know something eruptive is going to happen. The
growling and sinister tones featuring the Beauty and the Beast vocals of soft
mixed with operatic sounds and growling and vicious roars makes it unexpected
and an experience that you will never forget. One of the most up-and-coming
bands to come out of Italy is a group called, Raving Season, a quintet that has
this combination between Epica, Anathema, and My Dying Bride, shows how
astonishing they can take it up a level.

Since their formation in 2005, they were trying to find
their niche and sound to see which direction they want to go into three years
ago. And after releasing an EP back in 2009 and finally getting a buzz in the
audience and some line-up changes, their debut album, Amnio, released this year from My Kingdom Music, is dark,
symphonic, and surreal, and it goes to show how they have come a long way. In
the band they are; Judith on clean vocals, Federica doing the growling vocals,
Sergio and Marco S. on Guitars, and Marco on Bass and the session drumming is
done by Luca.

There are a lot of the doomy and bits of the symphonic
elements floating through on the compositions that almost makes it an operatic
atmosphere at times between Judith and Federica doing the soft and evil singing
to give it huge jumping surprise moments on nine compositions that are on the
album and ‘80s synthesizers coming in the arrangements to make it almost
Film-Noir at times. Songs like My Last
Murderer, Silent Lake and Restless
Rain (il Rumore Della Pioggia) go into a deeper darker cavernous place and
very gothic setting.

Most of the time, it’s a mourning and a cry for a loss
one and uplifting momentum to feel you are on the edge of your seat. Then on Testament,
it’s an homage to Amberian Dawn and Dotma thanks to Judith’s strong vocals with
an operatic twist with a tense moment of heavy guitar riffs and laid-back drum
work while the electronic motions on the title track, goes into the styles of
Radiohead, Bjork, and Tangerine Dream as it becomes a synth-layered-acoustic paradise
as if it was recorded for a crime/sci-fi movie set in a dystopian universe.

There’s no question that Raving Season’s debut album is
soon going to become a part of the headphones album genre. By going through
various motions of the genres of electronic, symphonic, doom, gothic, and
moving into uncharted waters, Amnio
is an enhancing yet sharp intense debut and that is a primary and a basic touch
that is strange but beautiful.

Something fresh and startling has risen out of the waters
of Finland that has taken Symphonic Metal into an unbelievable touching,
dramatic, and passionate sounds of overwhelming results. Bands like Amberian
Dawn, Dotma, Katra, and Apocalyptica to name a few have formed in their
hometown to create monstrous and orchestral metallic music along with powerful
story-telling. And In Silentio Noctis, who have been around since 2006, they
are soon going to be on the same boat with the others and they are definitely going
to have a warm reception.

The band who had various line-ups, now features a new
line-up and it considers; Armi Paivinen on Lead Vocals, Tuomas Leskinen and
Samuli Reinikainen on Guitars, Aleksi Ahokas on Bass, and Veikko Ringvall on
Drums. And special guests Ville Koponen on violin and Johannes Salo on Piano to
lend help on the quintet. Their new EP, Disenchant the Hypocrites, is a concept
piece dealing with the issues of God and his servants.

There are touches of Opera, fast-driven guitar lines and
riffs, machine-gun rapid firing sounds of the drums, and Armi’s vocals which is
in the realms of Heidi Parviainen and Tarja Turunen rolled up into one and it’s
a perfect combination to see where here vocals will go into various directions
as the band follows her to see which road she goes to with her voice and they
follow her with tension and difficult time changes.

There are only three tracks on the album, so it’s more of
a Metal Opera with a lot of dramatic structures and let me just say, it is a
complete knockout from start to finish. The
Pit starts off with a militant snare drum and a string quartet along with
keyboards before it goes into full gear with the church organ and guitars going
into a thunderous mode to set the tempo and introduction of who In Silentio
Noctis really are as Armi’s vocals kicks in and the time signatures go through
fast and slow movements to see what would they do next.

The Black Metal sound comes in full handy and while there
aren’t growling vocals on here throughout the story, it shows that there is a
lot of momentum. Of Deception, for
example has a lot of the heavy blistering riffs, doomy rhythm chords, and
powder keg drum patterns that makes it the perfect tone to capture the symphonic
boundaries in there and the vocals again, will send chills down your spine all
of it coming to the closing track, Haunted.

Dramatic Chords and Classical Horn and String Section
fills the section and not to mention the riffs coming in full swing that makes
it an eruptive composition while the vocals and rapid-gunfire sounds of the
drums charges in before it becomes a harmonic tour de force between the
instruments and Armi herself to make it a climatic sinister finale that leads
the door open to see what happens next in the story.

I have listened to Disenchant
the Hypocrites about four times already and it’s an explosive, soaring yet
poignant EP that makes you get your seat belts buckled up for a roller-coaster
ride that you will never forget the moment you listen to In Silentio Noctis’
music. So if you admire story-telling and heavy driven beats, then this EP is a
must have.

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About Me

I'm a blogger/freelance writer from Houston, TX who writes album reviews because I enjoy it. Even though, I'm not the best writer, there is no stop sign for me. I have a love of Progressive Rock music, Jazz Fusion, and Early Heavy Metal music from the '60s to the early '80s. I went to HCC (Houston Community College) for nine years and have completed my degree in Music in Performance: Jazz Studies. I've been writing Progressive Rock and Symphonic Metal reviews starting back in 2008 on my blogsite and it never gets old.